CMA's "Keep the Music Playing" Program Funds Music Education in Nashville Public Schools
By Scott Stem

© 2007 CMA Close Up News Service / Country Music Association, Inc.

CMA donated $368,502 from the 2006 CMA Music Festival to Nashville's nearly 75,000 public school students. CMA's "Keep the Music Playing" program funds music education in Metro Nashville in partnership with the Nashville Alliance for Public Education (NAPE).

"When we launched this charity initiative last year, we made a promise to donate $300,000 to music education on behalf of all the artists who participate in the Festival for free," said CMA COO Tammy Genovese. "But record attendance at the 2006 CMA Music Festival made it possible for us to increase the amount to $368,502. And the Alliance and Metro Nashville Public school system are already putting those funds to excellent use for the students."
CMA announced the donation at a March 7 news conference at the Nashville School of the Arts (NSA). The event featured Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell; CMA Board member and multi-Platinum artist Troy Gentry of Montgomery Gentry; and Director, Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools Dr. Pedro Garcia. Students from A.Z. Kelley Elementary School and Isaiah T. Creswell Middle Arts Magnet School performed during the event.

Vince Gill Making the Most of "These Days"
By Lorie Hollabaugh
© 2007 CMA Close Up News Service / Country Music Association, Inc.

These days are very good days for Vince Gill. Over the course of his incredible 30-year career, he's certainly experienced both sides of this fickle business of music. But Gill has remained steadfast in one thing - his passion for making music. Well, maybe two things - he has also managed to hold on to his wonderful sense of humor through it all.

Both qualities are in evidence on the Platinum-selling These Days, a panoramic four-CD, 43-song set that captures the eclectic musical styles that have characterized Gill's work over the course of 19 No. 1 singles, three Platinum and six multi-Platinum albums. But there's something else at work here; or maybe something not at work. On every track on These Days, Gill seems looser, more at ease and more willing to cut loose and play than on his previous, more abbreviated albums. According to Gill, Eric Clapton gets some of the credit. Back in 2004, the legendary guitarist phoned Gill to request his presence at Crossroads Guitar Festival in Dallas. And that one call fired Gill up in a way he hadn't been in quite a while.

For those who agree with me that Diamond Rio should be played more often on the radio & on CMT & GAC, please go to the following website & sign my petition to help me get the point across. The web address is: www.petitiononline.com/dr26405/petition.html

Bill Anderson wins Dove Award

Country Music Hall of Famer Whisperin' Bill Anderson nabbed another trophy for his awards case at the 38th Annual
Gospel music Association's Awards Show where he won his first-ever Dove for COUNTRY RECORDED SONG OF THE
YEAR, which he co-wrote with Tia Sillers. The song, "Jonah, Job, and Moses" was recorded by the Oak Ridge Boys in
their album "Front Row Seats" on Spring Hill Records.

Anderson, whose career spans 5 decades of award-winning hits, heads to Vegas in May for the ACM's where
another one of his songs, "Give It Away" by George Strait, is a finalist as both SINGLE OF THE YEAR and SONG OF THE
YEAR. Anderson co-wrote the song with Buddy Cannon and Jamey Johnson.

Crisco Presents the "Road to CMA Music Festival" Tour
By Ryan Noreikas

© 2007 CMA Close Up News Service

As a precursor to CMA Music Festival, the "crown jewel of Country Music Festivals" according to USA Today, for the third consecutive year, Crisco continues to partner with the Country Music industry as title sponsor for the Crisco Presents the "Road to CMA Festival" tour. CMA, with the support of Crisco and additional partners Anderson Merchandisers, Chevy: The Official Ride of Country Music, Gibson Guitar, Greased Lightning, Southwest Airlines and Wal-Mart, will once again bring Country Music fans a taste of the music and excitement of CMA Music Festival, offering fun activities and free product samples at free-to-the-public outdoor concert events, which will take place in Wal-Mart parking lots throughout the Southeast. (Note the Lansing, Mich., event takes place at Meijer). After the shows, autograph signings will allow fans to meet and be photographed with artists, an experience that has always been a cornerstone of the Festival.

Artists scheduled to participate in this year's "Road to CMA Festival" tour include Jeff Bates, Blue County, Eric Church, Emerson Drive, Buddy Jewell, Craig Morgan, Danielle Peck, Ray Scott, Trent Willmon and Chris Young.

"This tour is a wonderful way to sample what CMA Music Festival is all about: Country artists performing and interacting with fans," said Tammy Genovese, CMA Chief Operating Officer. "Thousands of fans travel to Nashville each summer for CMA Music Festival from all 50 states and more than 20 different countries. The 'Road to CMA Music Festival' brings a piece of the experience directly to the fans' hometowns."

Education and Music Key Highlights of CRS-38

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (March 5, 2007) - Combine two major research presentations, one keynote address featuring Jon Bon Jovi, over twenty educational panels, three performance driven luncheons, one Jam featuring superstar Toby Keith (with surprise guests Bobby Bare and Crystal Gayle, among others), five New Faces and many varied sponsored and late night events and you have CRS-38.

Over 2800 radio and music executives attended the Country industry's premier convention February 28 - March 2 at the Nashville Convention Center.

Opportunities for Country music growth were highlighted in the two research projects presented at CRS-38 by Edison Music Research. The Hispanic study identified opportunities for Country radio and labels in that rapidly growing demographic. An in-depth study of Country radio's core listeners (P1 Research) yielded a positive outlook for the Country radio format and confirmed the Internet as an increasingly popular source of new music discovery. The latter project was co-sponsored by the CRB (Country Radio Broadcasters) and CMA (Country Music Association).

Barbara Mandrell's Cool Country Tribute
By Phyllis Stark

© 2007 CMA Close Up News Service / Country Music Association, Inc.

As a longtime performer who knows the demands of a busy schedule, Barbara Mandrell is both humbled and gratified that so many top-tier Country artists took the time to contribute to an album that pays tribute to her and her amazing career.

"They have really given me a great gift of not only their talent and their time, but their love," Mandrell, the two-time CMA Entertainer of the Year, said in an emotion-filled voice.

The album, She Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool: A Tribute To Barbara Mandrell, was released Oct. 17 on BNA Records. Mandrell, whose six No. 1 hits include "Years" and "I Was Country, When Country Wasn't Cool," is still Country and, according to the artists who participated in the tribute project, still very cool. Sara Evans was literally raised on Mandrell's songs.

A College Boy Can Survive: The Academic Side of Music Row
By Edward Morris

© 2007 CMA Close Up News Service / Country Music Association, Inc.

It used to be that ambitious youngsters knocked on Music Row doors or networked in nearby bars to gain a foothold in Nashville's music industry. Some still prefer these approaches, but the more savvy among them have learned that the odds favor those who've earned a music business degree, particularly if it's from a local college where the interaction between gown and town is constant.

There are plenty of high-profile success stories to drive home this point. Brad Paisley, Josh Turner and Trisha Yearwood, are all music business grads from Belmont University. Grand Ole Opry manager Pete Fisher is a Middle Tennessee State University alum, as is Erin Enderlin, the co-writer of Alan Jackson's Top 5 hit, "Monday Morning Church." Super fiddler Andrea Zonn, a long-time member of Vince Gill's band, earned her degree from Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University. Trevecca Nazarene University, a newer presence on the music business scene, is beginning to make a name for itself under the guidance of Jim Foglesong, the former president of MCA's and Capitol Records' Country divisions and a Country Music Hall of Fame member.

"Every record that comes out of Nashville has the fingerprint of at least one of our students on it," asserted Nathan Adam, Associate Chairman, MTSU Department of Recording Industry.

The Year In Country Music: Country Music Remained Steady In 2006
By CMA Communications


© 2007 CMA Close Up News Service / Country Music Association, Inc.

Country Music remained steady in 2006 with a modest 0.5 percent drop in album sales from 2005, according to figures released Jan. 4, 2007, by Nielsen SoundScan. Total all-genre album sales (CD, CS, LP, digital albums) for the entire music industry were down 4.9 percent from 2005, while overall music sales (albums, singles, music video and digital tracks) were up 19.4 percent.

"Last year really showcased the depth of Country Music's diversity across all areas of our business, from record sales to tours, movies to books and outstanding media coverage," said Tammy Genovese, CMA COO. Overall, the number of Country albums sold in 2006 was 74.9 million down slightly from 75.3 million in 2005.

For Tom T. Hall, the Grass Is Bluer on the Other Side of Retirement
By Wendy Newcomer

Eight years ago, after 34 years of entertaining, legendary singer/songwriter Tom T. Hall retired. Yet each day he's still up at 5:30 AM, writing songs, listening to bluegrass music, painting, drawing and sometimes recording bands in the studio at his Fox Hollow farm 20 miles from Downtown Nashville. This is retirement?

"I'm just retired from the big-time music business," clarified the man known worldwide as "The Storyteller." Hall has written Country classics including "Old Dogs, Children and Watermelon Wine," "I Love," "Country Is," "I Care" and "Harper Valley P.T.A.," a three-week No. 1 hit and CMA Single of the Year for Jeannie C. Riley in 1968.

On a rainy afternoon, Hall, dressed casually in jeans and a forest green sweatshirt, drives his Ford Explorer Sport Trac around Fox Hollow. From his office - which he built to look like a barn, he said, to throw off nosy salespeople - he slowly winds up the hill to his acoustic recording studio, where his wife Miss Dixie waits. Hall truly has retired from the business. He rarely gives interviews, and wanted to make sure this one was for CMA Close Up and not for any newsstand magazine.